1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to equipment for indicating the position and/or adjustment of individual units required for the printing process. The invention more specifically relates to remote indication of individual units at a central location.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various means have been devised for the adjustment of the plates in a rotary printing press. Adjustment becomes especially critical for printing plates on a printing cylinder of a multi-color printing press. Sigfried Schuhmann in U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,259 issued July 5, 1977, discloses an apparatus for the peripheral adjustment of a printing plate on a printing cylinder of a multi-color printing press in the form of an optical viewing device having magnifying optics including a single eye piece and two objectives. The objectives are spaced for simultaneous viewing at a peripheral reference mark at the end of the cylinder and an index mark on the plate which is positionally related to the image thereon. At Column 5, line 26, Schuhmann discloses that remote displays can be provided by using fiber optics to convey the optical image.
Similarly simultaneous adjustment of blanket cylinders is required in lithograph presses that simultaneously print on both sides of a copy by passing a web between a pair of blanket cylinders. Greiner U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,849 issued July 3, 1973 discloses a coupling arrangement between blanket cylinders using gears to keep the blanket cylinders operating exactly at the same peripheral speed under running conditions with an interposed clutch to permit the blanket cylinders to be disengaged for individual phase adjustment when the press is running.
On the currently marketed printing presses an increasing number of units can be remotely controlled from a control panel at a central location. Indicators are also provided on the control panel. The adjustments or positions are displayed in digital or analog form by these indicators. An appropriate number of indicators are provided accordingly to the number of remotely controllable units on the printing press. Whereas only one indicating instrument is usually required for indication of an adjustment, two instruments may be required for indication of the positions. The amount of space required to house the indicating instruments increases as other remotely controllable units are added.